Cigarettes After Sex - X's

X’s is the third studio album by American dream pop band Cigarettes After Sex, released in July 2024 via Partisan Records.

With X’s, Cigarettes After Sex finally takes centre stage as not just one of today’s preeminent indie bands, but as one of the most globally accomplished acts across any genre, whose often unconventional path to superstardom has helped reshape the very definition of success for artists in the modern era.

Filled with raw, imagistic, sometimes smutty vignettes set to entrancing, slow burn pop songs, bandleader Greg Gonzalez captures every emotion a romantic arc inspires.

But where previous albums have drawn from an amalgam of relationships, for the most part, X’s centralizes on just one relationship that spanned four years. “The record feels brutal,” admits Gonzalez. “I could sit and talk about this loss to someone, but that wouldn’t scratch the surface. I have to really write about it, sing about it, have the music, and then I can start to analyze and learn from it. Or just relive it—in a good way. I don’t have that Eternal Sunshine-thing of wanting to forget.”

While continuing to observe classic pop song structures, Gonzalez has moved away from the prior sonic touchstones of the ‘50s and ‘60s, finding himself now drawn to a ‘70s/’80s slow dance. While (in typical Cigarettes style) these changes may be subtle, the overall resulting energy is akin to disco ball-refracted tears on the dance floor.

This album is a limited edition on crystal clear coloured vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve with a die-cut printed inner sleeve, pressed in Germany via Partisan Records.